


Submarine

by Misila



Category: Free!
Genre: Alternate Universe, Dystopia, Global Warming, M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-31
Updated: 2018-12-31
Packaged: 2019-10-01 12:02:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 482
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17243864
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Misila/pseuds/Misila
Summary: Whenever Rin speaks about what life on land was like, his eyes burn with enthusiasm and nostalgia weighs in his words.





	Submarine

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this drabble as a promo for RinHaru Week 2018 and I'm still thrilled I was asked to.
> 
> Thank you, Eleen, for betaing it.

 

 

 

 

It’s way past bedtime when Haruka kisses Rin.

He has been stealing glances at him since before they arrived at his bedroom, for much longer than he’s willing to admit— the loud, bright child from one of the last emerged cities already attracted Haruka’s fickle attention the first time their eyes met, five years ago; but Haruka isn’t sure when he devoted himself to learn by heart the shape of the lips Rin licks, bites onto and wraps around fading memories of his former life with that painful longing in his voice.

Whenever Rin speaks about what life on land was like, his eyes burn with enthusiasm and nostalgia weighs in his words. And he talks about strange things, all the time: ever changing skies, wind and clouds; feathered fish that learnt to swim through air humans can no longer breathe.

“Haru…” Rin giggles against Haruka’s lips, excited and uneasy and delighted, draws back to take air in— too unimportant a task, for Haruka; but the toxic atmosphere took its toll on Rin’s lungs. “If you wanted me to shut up, just—”

“No.” Haruka swallows down, because long ago he did want Rin to stop reminiscing about that foreign world, to not grieve over something he had never seen as if it were his loss, too. “I like listening to you,” he eventually manages, reaching out to brush red locks out of Rin’s face.

Once upon a time, Haruka had no interest in the remainders of civilisation abandoned above the surface. He, like most people his age, was born in that acrylic cobweb ploughing through the sea floor, was content with just swimming around the settlement every now and then and being close to all the living beings he can just see from the small dome his bedroom is.

He can’t go back to those days anymore. Rin with his words, Rin with his liveliness, Rin with his determination— Rin makes him want to reach out further than the reef they visit with their teachers every year, further beyond the surface, to take a glimpse of everything he dreams of since Rin barged in his life.

“…But not now,” Rin guesses, amusement glowing in his eyes, and now it’s him who catches Haruka’s lower lip with his.

One day, Rin swore on his fourteenth birthday, he will find his way back above the surface. Regardless of his frequent coughing, of his weak lungs; he yearns to breach one more time, to see the stars and the cherry tree in his old school blooming at the beginning of spring. To make sure that his childhood, his hometown and his father existed— that his life on land really happened.

(Rin always talks about cherry blossoms, and he talks about stars; and Haruka thinks spring lies somewhere between the two.)

One day, Haruka decides, intertwining his fingers with Rin’s, they will see that world together.

 

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> For statistical purposes, I wanted to post this drabble before the year ends.
> 
> Thank you so much for reading, and I hope you have a very happy 2019!


End file.
